CH (Dragon) Gruppe Fehrmann Tiger I

[wbill76]

After looking at some reference photos of damaged zim and knowing that the zimmerit coat itself was a kind of ochre color, I decided to add a weathering layer to the exposed areas on the turret and hull. I used a 50-50 mix of MM enamel RAL800/Light Gray that I had on hand from a previous build and which was a close-enough approximation for my needs. The zim was added to hulls wet, then raked/patterned, and the torch-dried to get it to harden...so it would make sense that when it was knocked off, it wouldn't go cleanly, and remnants of the pattern would remain behind. I used a 000 sable brush to create this kind of residue by combining wide dry-brush strokes and also stippling in random places to break it up a bit. I also used a pointed detail brush and repainted the 'edge' areas of the surviving zim to show it exposed and provide a slight contrast to the exterior painted surface. This, of course, will get more weathering treatment later on.



Spare track runs were also weathered up using a combination of washes, some light Steel drybrushing, and some orange pastels.



The exhausts received a wash of MM enamel Leather followed by both orange and black pastels to get them where I wanted.



Spare tracks were mounted to the hull along with their holders. I trimmed off the ice cleats from their faces to increase the contact surfaces and used CA gel to give me some work time to get them positioned correctly before adding their racks or holders. The two runs for the driver's plate were a little challenging since their holders are just two small pieces of PE and the top of the plate slopes down at the sides. Some careful test fitting got it sorted out, but you can't just place them flush with the fenders or the PE has no place to attach to.



Then came the trickiest part of the afternoon's effort, mounting the spare links to the turret. There aren't any guides for the top holders, so I worked one link at a time, glued it in place to make sure I had the right alignment, then added the top holder to match up with it. The 4 links on the left side were added first and then the 5th empty holder was added last.



Rinse and repeat on the other side but just with 2 links there.



Still much more to do with the on board tools up next!

[Leon]

Just keeps getting better and better Bill! Nice work on the spare track and links.

[wbill76]

Thanks Leon! I just noticed in one of the last pics that the empty track holder got knocked out of position a bit, easily fixed.

[deafpanzer]

You are getting there... can't wait for the weathering stage when it will bring everything together!

[wbill76]

Thanks Andy! Got to build up the layers.

[dierk]

Looking excellent Bill, but I didn't expect anything less from you!

[adt70hk]

Nice!! Very nice!!

Andrew

[wbill76]

Thanks Dierk and Andrew! Much appreciated.

[desertrat]

superb, looking forward to seeing more!!!

[armorguy]

Great technique and a joy to follow this !

[wbill76]

Thanks DR!

AG, glad to be able to repay the favor, I'm equally enjoying your toadman project!

[wbill76]

Managed to get the rest of the hull equipment and details done today. The kit included empty PE holders for the track-changing cable but these are of the earlier design type. The kit includes a cable as part of the 'not for use' parts in the kit and it features the later holder arrangement that was adopted in the August '43 production which matches with the other hull features I've put in, so I opted for the cable to be there vs. the empty choice.



For the rear hull, I assembled the multi-part jack and a note of caution is in order here. The instructions are vague at best in how the jack's brackets install relative to the support hooks and the jack itself. The key is that the handle of the jack has to line up with a retaining clamp, so that's what you need to use to determine where the jack should sit in relation to it. I added it along with the engine starter crank and replaced the molded on clamp handles with extra Griffon PE handles that I have laying around.



The main deck stuff came next. All of the tools were hand painted and detailed before being permanently placed into their holders. The tow cables and gun cleaning rod combinations are tricky to get lined up together given the tension involved with all the different contact points and slightly different elevation surfaces. I opted for the pre-molded cables as trying to shape the stiff steel wire that is provided in the kit is its own kind of hellish torture. Definitely a case of pick your poison!





Last but not least, I extended the camo pattern onto the front hull's spare track holder rack. It was bugging me that it didn't line up so I had to do something about that.



This clears another major hurdle, now I just need to tackle the wheels and lower hull to get things ready for the weathering stage.

[Leon]

Nice work on the hull equipment Bill!

[dierk]

Looking good Bill (hmm, get a feeling of deja-vu...like I may have written that before)
"Definitely a case of pick your poison!" Wouldn't be a Dragon kit without some sort of toxin

[adt70hk]

Bill, as always a lovely, lovely job!

Andrew

[desertrat]

looking great, bring on the .......weathering!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Deleted]

[wbill76]

Thanks Leon, DR, Andrew, and Dogfish!

Feb 27, 2016 5:28:22 GMT -5 dierk said:

Looking good Bill (hmm, get a feeling of deja-vu...like I may have written that before)
"Definitely a case of pick your poison!" Wouldn't be a Dragon kit without some sort of toxin

No kidding about Dragon toxins. In fact I have to fix an error that I didn't catch but which another modeler pointed out to me. More on that in just a bit.

[wbill76]

The Dragon instructions contain an error when it comes to the placement of the spare antenna tube (part K6 or MD2 if you use the brass version). The diagrams show the thicker end as being at the rear when the reverse is true. I had initially installed this the wrong way trusting to the instructions but David Byrden's sharp eyes found it and pointed it out to me. I had used CA to attach it, so some care was called for to remove it and flip it around. Here's how it looked before the correction:



And after. Got to love those Dragon instructions, they never cease to amaze!

[dierk]

Proof - as if any was needed - that German armour is a minefield and Dragon instructions aren't to be trusted
Great save Bill!

[wbill76]

Feb 27, 2016 12:57:29 GMT -5 dierk said:

Proof - as if any was needed - that German armour is a minefield and Dragon instructions aren't to be trusted
Great save Bill!

No kidding Dierk! Just about the time you think you've got it all figured out, some photo will surface or similar and the whole thing comes crashing down again.

[Leon]

Nice save Bill! No wonder I haven't built any Dragon kits.

[wbill76]

Feb 27, 2016 14:57:28 GMT -5 Leon said:

Nice save Bill! No wonder I haven't built any Dragon kits.

In the 15+ years I've been building Dragon kits, I've yet to come across one that didn't have at least ONE error in the instructions. One kit I built had an error in every single step... With that said, the kits do build up nicely and have great detail. If only they would put just a little extra effort into the instructions they would be flawless!

[c3p0.]

Glad to see paint being applied and looking great so far. Keep up the good work.

[armorguy]

Dragon instructions keep you sharp ! Good save Bill !

[wouter]

Nice couple of updates there Bill, very tedious job as usual. And never hurts to get some help from David ey ^^. Keep up the good work commander

Cheers

[wbill76]

Thanks 3PO and AG!

Feb 28, 2016 4:20:11 GMT -5 wouter said:

Nice couple of updates there Bill, very tedious job as usual. And never hurts to get some help from David ey ^^. Keep up the good work commander

Cheers

David's always around when it comes to Tiger builds! He's got a theory now that F13 may have had rubber wheels instead of steel for example. The guy never sleeps in the Tiger world.

[wbill76]

The past couple of days were spent focusing on getting the wheels ready for installation. The bare metal contact surfaces on the wheels, sprockets, and idlers were given a base of MM non-buffing Metalizer Steel followed by dry-brushed MM enamel Burnt Umber. The DY areas were treated to a multi-step process that involved some stippled Burnt Umber to create chips and wear, followed by an overall wash of Ammo DAK Wash, and then some dry-brushed DY to tie it all together and bring out some of the raised detail.



With that out of the way, I installed the wheels permanently onto the working suspension on both sides of the hull. They will get additional pigment weathering later on but the foundation has been laid. The sprockets and idler remain movable at this point to facilitate the track installation still to come.

[afvfan]

Great improvements going on here, Bill.

[wbill76]

Thanks Bob! Doing my best for Andy's sake!